What's It Like in a 21st Century Streetcar City?
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- In the 1960s, Toronto decided to keep its streetcars when the rest of the Western Hemisphere was getting rid of them. Fifty-some years later, they've brought their system into the twenty-first century, with an ever-expanding network and large, modern trains. So today, as a conclusion to my Canada series, join me as I traverse Toronto by streetcar!
Special thanks to the friend of the channel who made some of these shots possible ;)
Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.co...
Classy Whale - at-least-weekly misadventures with trains and transit!
Smarties (Canadian style) originated in England. What Americans call "Smarties" (pastel coloured flavoured sugar tablets in a roll) are called "Rockets" in Canada, and ironically, they are all made here.
Smarties (US) also made in US.
Quay is actually pronounced “key” everyone effs it up Dw
Yeah it comes from the French word "quai" (pronounced "kay") meaning pier/dock.
Thx
It’s also Tronno
That underground busway-with-streetcar-tracks-in-it at St. Clair looks so cool and I want to go
Used to go here often when I worked at Yonge and Eglinton and lived close to Christie Pits park. The 126 Christie bus goes right in the tunnel 😁
I seem to remember a long time ago when they had trolleybuses on Yonge St.
coming from someone who uses st. clair west all the time, it smells like weed everywhere in the station you literally cannot escape it
@@leduckduck a lot of Toronto smells like weed, so what?
@@thermn8r yeah but the mezzanine here has barely any ventilation, so the smell is really intense
"I've heard 4*Town played here once" I've heard a giant red panda destroyed the SkyDome on the day of the concert! Crazy! 😉😂So Mars bars ARE in the US, it's just they're sold under a different name....MILKY WAY! Basically, the Mars bars sold worldwide are sold as Milky Way bars in the US, while the Milky Way bars sold worldwide are sold as 3 Musketeers in the US. And ketchup chips were created by Hostess Potato Chips (not to be confused with Hostess snack cakes). Hostess was a Canadian company that since merged with Frito-Lay in 1988, but the brand was discontinued in 1996. During the early 1970s, they were experimenting different flavors like grape and orange, and while the sweeter flavors didn't catch on, ketchup was a hit!
Poutine was created in the 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, which include Drummondville, Victoriaville, and Bécancour. This region is known as the breadbasket of Quebec as it's big on agriculture like poultry and more importantly, the dairy industry. Hence having plenty of cheese curds!
Some more Canadian snacks for you to try next time you’re up here:
- All Dressed chips
- Nanaimo bar
- Butter tart
- Hawkins Cheezies
Loved the video! As a western Canadian now living in Montreal, I’ve always been jealous of Toronto’s streetcar network
And if you're in Toronto, Jamaican patties and back bacon sandwiches.
Yes to all! As an Albertan, I have yet to try a Beaver Tail although I have read they are delicious!
Thanks for posting this: it's interesting to see the new fleet of trams operating in a city I last visited ten years ago. I might be nostalgic about the CLRVs, but the Flexitys look like a big step forwards for accessibility and capacity. The Canadian snacks are also of interest: I hadn't previously spotted that the Canadian Mars bar and Smarties are pretty much identical to the British ones.
My favorite used to be Nielsen's Krispy crunch. 😒
Loved this Canada series! It's definitely inspired me to just go to Canada once my passport's renewed (as I mentioned before) for a small change of pace and a nice getaway. And also enjoy the streetcars. Though for me, my main goal is a long VIA Rail route!
"You never have to wait long if things are running smoothly."
If.
Well done Toronto, definitely the right decision to keep the streetcars, a number of cities have rebuilt the streetcar facilities which is great. The crossovers are very impressive and illustrates how intense the network is. Thank you for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation which has absolutely delighted the people.
Try riding any of our routes, then. 506 and 505 are disasters. Just today, I was stuck in the tunnel for nearly 10 minutes waiting for the streetcar I was on to dock in at the station. Why, you ask? Good question. The Spadina 510 route, despite its streetcar only dedicated lane, for some inexplicable reason, always bunches up. On my trip today, FIVE STREETCARS, were bunch up between the station platform and the tunnel entering the station. The St. Clair streetcar has its own dedicated lane in is plagued by bunching up streetcars. Not uncommon to see 5-6 streetcars within a 15-20 minute window, then wait for 25 minutes for the next one. Queen Street streetcar...you might as well walk because I have experienced 40 minute wait times, despite there being NO traffic on Queen.
its incredible that Torontonians early in the 80s decided to continue building streetcar lines after the short phase of the 50s tearing them down, where as other North American cities to this day struggles to return to their transit heritage
The street car loop where to boarded is the St. Clair Station Loop, not Deer Park Loop. Deer Park Loop was at the North East corner of St. Clair and Mt. Pleasant where the old St. Clair line turned north to run up Mount Pleasant. It is Queen's KEY not Kway. Don't they teach you Americans how to speak English?
The old streetcars were the best. Far superior design. These new ones are sterile and boring. Can't open the windows. They feel like you're riding in a metal tube as opposed to a tram. Progress isn't always progressive. But, they did the classic TTC paint job right.
I don't know but most of these look horribly slow. Looks like people on bikes or E-Scooters would easily be faster, you can even see some bikers passing the streetcars every now and then.
We have so many new transit lines under construction, come back and visit us again in a few years.
Cheers
You pronounce Queens Quay as in the key you use in a lock.
Torontonian here. I'm really happy we kept our network but a few things that irritate me. One is that when we modernized lines such as St. Clair, we still have such tight stop spacing. It's still slower than taking a car bar rush hour. It could have operated as more of a modern LRT in some settings. Another issue I don't understand is Toronto spent a lot of money on new LRVs, and lots of money on upgrading the network. Why couldn't we get rid of loops and have normal terminus stations with crossovers. The lineup for boarding at Union to get on the streetcars is ridiculous in the summer. I know it would cost a substantial amount of money to fix that particular loop but there are so many benefits. Anyway, thanks for great content and I'm aware that despite my rant, Toronto has it really good compared to other cities in North America..
Yes it does.
They are actually planning to upgrade the streetcar interchange at Union, there are some great renderings in UA-cam by the city, so that is some good news!
@@legoboycheng8670 The city just needs funding for that from the province and feds. Maybe Transit UA-cam from across the world can spam the Prime Minister and Premier to fund Waterfront East LRT!
Toronto is pronounced "Tur-on-no'
More like "Torondo". The second "t" is not gone, but it's very subtle.
nope it's just Tronno
Up until the Bloor Danforth subway, line 2, opened in 1966 there were 4 services that ran through St. Clair Station in the rush hour. ST. Clair ran every 6 minutes to Northlands and every 6 minutes to Keele in the west and every 3 minutes to Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton in the east. Earlscourt ran every 3 minutes to Lansdowne and Rogers Road ran every 3 minutes to the west so 4 cars every 3 minutes. Keele was the normal west end for St. Clair and Northlands was a rush hour tripper service which went about a mile further up Keele St. in the rush hour. Earlscourt was a short turn of St. Clair that looped at Earlscourt about a mile before Keele. I think they used the different name so people would not mistake it for a Keele car. Rogers Road normally ran along Rogers Road and Oakwood Avenue at St. Clair but in the rush hour it was extended to the Yonge Subway about 2 miles to the east. The St. Clair, or sometimes the Earlscourt car, (depending on the mood of the TTC) ran east to Mt. Pleasant then turned north for 1.25 miles to Eglinton. This was my local service.
Trams.
Mars bars do exist in the US. At least it did until 2002, oddly enough, it came back as Snickers Almond. BTW, The Snickers bar was named after the Mars' family horse.
Hey a new video at 0602 AM EST. Thank goodness im still awake.
How much was the basket of... Looked like macaroni?
The real Kim's Convenience is full of expired product! 😅
5 minutes on a Saturday?!?
*cries in NYC*
There's only two main lines so it's easier
@@ClassyWhale City policy requires all subway lines to run every every 6 minutes or better from 5:00AM until 1:30AM. Not just the two main lines.
Unfortunately due to a shortage of functioning trains, Line 3 sometimes fails to meet that standard and you could potentially wait as long as 8 minutes.
The first time I ever saw the second digit on a "next train" sign was at 3AM during "Nuit Blanche", an overnight art festival.
@@OntarioTrafficMan oh no 8 minutes 😭 y'all got it easy over there
But service ends at 1:45am and then after that you have to take the bus. We call it the "vomit comet" for obvious reasons.
@@shauntakata1762 But the bus also runs every 5 minutes
The TTC certainly isn’t perfect, but it’s much better than we like to give it credit for
I am a big fan of Streetcars and light rails using heavy infrastructure
@0:37 - are the ads outdated or doe Ricki Lake still have a tv show in Canada?
RM Transit always bad mouths Torontos street cars. But than that's his hometown.
Its nice to see just how much pedestrian traffic there is. I heard that it declined during covid
question why do they have trolley poles?
4:36 you can buy them in the US in most places.
Queens Quay is pronounced "Queens Key"
I had no idea that smarties in the US are rockets
5:38 Love the Turning Red reference!
San Francisco also has a Toronto PCC street car
Historical Accuracy Police: the streetcar in San Francisco painted to be Torontonian NEVER operated in Toronto so it is a faker.
Need to get down to Melbourne, Australia. It’s a legacy network like Toronto but only much larger.
Hey, I think this is the best video I've seen from you thus far. I really like this style of content which gives some specifics and history of what you're covering while still sticking with your informal style. Do you have more videos like this planned?
Thanks! I enjoyed working with this format...I do hope to use it again, but my next run of videos are a bit more "in the moment" if you will!
@@ClassyWhale Well, very good then. Looking forward to it!
Waiting shelter is kept clean
Quay is pronounced key
Pro tip - we pronounce it Toronno.
Tronno*
We do, but it's also totally correct to pronounce it Toronto
3 things:
Good on ya for calling out "conquestors"
"Quay" is pronounced the same as "Key", I made the same mistake when I first saw the word written out
I'm a bit disappointed Coffee Crisp didn't make a cameo in the Canadian Snack in a Streetcar Stop interludes. If you go back you gotta try it!
How fast are they?
Oh yes 4-town! :)
The building that the Spadina car looped around was the Connaught Labs where insulin was develop[ed by Banting and Best. One of the many medical innovations from the University of Toronto.
Literally why I'm alive
@@ClassyWhale Glad you are here.
Hm, I wonder what you're going to be doing in New York 🤔
3:30 On board fare machines? Wow! I haven't head of that before
It's because there are an insane number of stops and it wouldn't be affordable to put fare machines at all of them
Wait, what's the poutine out of Toronto Streetcar cars?
4town!
Really like Caleb’s music choices.
is there someone on board to make sure you've paid? Seems like there's a lot of trust involved if not
Fare Inspectors circulate around the system and check streetcars at random.
As a west coaster this just seems normal to me. In Seattle, Link, Sounder, and the Streetcar are all Proof-of-Payment. In Portland, MAX, WES (to the extent that it exists or is actually useful), and the Streetcar are also PoP (and the Streetcar also has on-board fare machines as you showed.) Bay area, well okay BART is entirely faregated, as is the Muni Metro's subway section, but the rest of Muni, Caltrain, ACE, and VTA are all PoP as well. And I don't just mean the rest of the Muni Metro "light rail" (mostly glorified streetcar) system - I mean *all* of Muni, even the buses, which lets them allow all-doors boarding. Sacramento RT light rail, LA Metro, Metrolink, Coaster, Sprinter, San Diego Trolley...
Fare inspectors patrol the system, though they mostly only check at Spadina Station. During the pandemic, the TTC suspended fare enforcement fines, preferring to educate passengers about fare payment. This is nerdy, but the fines are provincial offences, meaning that despite the high cost of $235 or $425, the money goes to the province (court fee and victim surcharge) and the city, not the TTC. Technically, there is also a Criminal Code of Canada offence against 'fraudulently obtaining transportation' but I have never heard of someone getting that.
random checks
This is why I don't like the MBTA green line. Trash compared to real light rail and real streetcars. Never knew Toronto's system was so well-integrated, thanks for the tour!
this boy munching on the ketchup flavored lays in the middle of canada.. that hurt right in the caucasian
Another Torontonian chiming in, and all I can say is that I only wish we all were as enthusiastic about our streetcar system as you are!
Oh, and and here's one final Canadian snack: ua-cam.com/video/xi96V96ZMHE/v-deo.html
Come to Europe😂
Working on it!
ballsy of you to willingly choose to film streetcars in that area of toronto rather than like.. literally anywhere else haha
It's pronounced Queens Quay (key).
It's pronounced "Queen's KEY".
Glad you enjoyed your stay.And the Snacks
streetcars the biggest waste of money. completely useless
Why
The cost of maintence, road maintence, track maintence, cost of gridlock if they breakdown on the road, the cost of streetcard themselves vs buses(streetcars are around 3x more expensive). they're slower than buses(buses on average are twice as fast). they're a lot louder than buses. When they turn they make a loud screeching sound that can wake up the whole neighbourhood. If the power goes down, then they're useless @@ClassyWhale
@@basketballmaven1454 I’d make the argument that streetcars generate less wear and tear on the road than buses (rubber on roads vs steel on steel), and thus cost less over the years. You are right that streetcars cost more, but I would think maintenance and “cost per ride” would be cheaper, especially in Toronto where these cars are constantly overflowing with passengers. Toronto streetcars do breakdown, but in our small streets, if anything breaks down, its gonna be a rough day for everyone. With more right-of-way, streetcar specific infrastructure and infrastructure improvements (ie installing better and more resilient rails, pantographs etc), the streetcar could provide many opportunities for transportation that buses and cars could not accomplish for a fraction of the price over its usable life.
@@varunanvarathan9908 streetcar lovers are the dumbest people on the planet
Shout out to the 506 and 505 and 501, and 504, and 510❤
5:39 Video Turns red for a split second
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA you got me
@@ClassyWhale 😜 😆
I am amazed to see how many of the streetcars are running with the pantograph and not trolley pole in this video. Looks like the upgrade work to the overhead wire has progressed a lot.
So in this video, you rode a modern streetcar system. In the previous video, you got off a train to find an inexplicably closed exit. Are you sure you aren't just in Philly?
To call Philly‘s streetcars “modern” is quite a stretch, especially compared to these.
@@bahnspotterEU Din't SEPTA order 130 new Alstom Citadis streetcars
You need to visit Melbourne, the other tram survivor city in the Anglosphere.
What’s with the trolly poles?
As is stated in the video, Toronto's new Flexity streetcars are unique in that they are single-enders (having no driver cab in the rear) thereby requiring loops to turn around at the end of the line--unlike Adelaide, Australia's similar Flexity double-enders.
Some nit-pick drawbacks: unlike earlier era streetcars, passengers cannot see as clearly forward through the Flexity's front windshield due to internal obstructions. Furthermore, because the streetcrars are air conditioned (as enabled by the driver when needed), the sealed windows cannot be opened if the A/C fails during a heat wave. Presumably, TTC's transit regulations would then require that passengers disembark from a stifling streetcar so that it can be taken out of service and back to the garage for repairs. At least, that is what happens in hot climates such as Adelaide. Verified reports from Toronto streetcar users are hereby welcome if this has actually occurred, thank you.
These streetcars have not had their AC broken down. Though we did have a 2017 summer of 'hot cars' on Line 2 with its 1990s T1 trains.
thats nice they let you bring bikes on the streetcar, in SF we wont allow
Technically during off-peak only, but they don't really enforce it. Though, at peak vehicles can be really packed you will have people stepping over your bike and getting all close and personal with you.
Nice presentation about Toronto. Too bad you didn't get to Roncesvalles, the Queensway and Humber Loop. By the way, Queens Quay is pronounced like "Queens KEY".
At that time Roncesvalles was closed (hence that bus diversion) as the city and TTC are redoing the King-Queen-Queensway-Roncesvalles intersection, including replacing the tracks around their and doing some renovations at the Roncesvalles Carhouse.
8:32 nice
You have me hungry for a snack..
perhaps a...Canadian snack?
Most streetcar stops in Toronto are in the middle of the street, one or more traffic lanes away from the curb, with no "safety islands" to step onto. Motorists on lanes to the side of streetcars are just used to stopping when the doors open. Downtown, you often see crowds of people getting on/off right in the middle of other stopped traffic.
Under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, motorists are actually legally obligated to stop two metres back from open streetcar doors. If the police decide to do traffic enforcement, they can issue a fine ($105 Canadian dollars and 3 demerit points) for breaking that law, not to mention you could seriously hurt a TTC passenger.
The TTC is now looking at using cameras to enforce that as the province recently amended the law to allow camera enforcement of that specific law.
THIS IS NO JOKE.. Literally Like only 10% are new.. About some wares around a 30% are Historic styled (so old af theme ride horray); then ohhh the other 60% basically 15-30years out of style.. Probably upgraded but uhhh oldddd
5 minute wait for a train on line 1 is considered bad service by Canadian standards, but I guess America must be way behind on frequency.
Just curious; which Canadian city has faster service for subway trains? Not Montreal, and I don't remember it being faster in Vancouver either.
@@bobbbxxx Nah both Montreal and Vancouver have about five minute off peak headways too. It’s standard in Canada. But in the USA, headways can stretch between 10 and 20 minutes off-peak in a lot of cities.
@@lemonade4181 sorry but every time I've ever been in Montreal all the time the wait time is longer. And I have been in Montreal a lot. I'm less familiar with Vancouver
@@bobbbxxx Vancouver is in general much better than Toronto or Montreal when it comes to frequency because it’s fully automated.
Again I'm not that familiar with it to make a judgment. If it's 5 minutes then it's the same as Toronto. Are you saying the frequency is actually shorter than 5 minutes? It's not exactly the same system though, is it? Vancouver's is more like an LRT system rather than full-fledged subway system, and the number of people using the system, standing on the platforms, and crowding into the trains is less. It's kind of like comparing apples to oranges.
Canadian streetcars: SHINY AND NEW, but also SLOW and poorly operated.
Can TTC streetcars honk? some people say the TTC streetcars were hornless.
They can honk!
@@ClassyWhale If so what do TTC streetcar horns sound like?
@@AlexR1821 honk
@@ClassyWhale If so what do TTC streetcar horns sound like?
@@AlexR1821 HONK
You captured the Toronto Streetcar system really well, great vid!
Btw, in the UK the orange smarties taste of orange.
If you want a streetcar city, don't pick one of the worst cities like Toronto for that. There are 100x better cities all over the world that have streetcars, like Prague.
Yeah, but Prague is in Europe while Toronto is in North America
I noticed that the streetcar announcements sound the same as the Free MallRide in Downtown Denver and buses used by RTD!
Great Video!
i missed the old trams, they look way more like buses featuring stop signs
Thanks for plugging the National Capital Trolley Museum! As a volunteer there, always appreciate people promoting our little museum!
I still miss the CLRVs, they were that thing which made Toronto Toronto. You could open the window to let in fresh air on hot days. Tucked at the Guelph Line near Halton, ON is a railroad museum, where such a CLRV went. The Halton County Radial Railway museum has a lot of older TTC buses and trains on display, also a car from the CTA which was planned for the subway, before the TTC went on with an order at Hawker Siddely Canada with the iconic H1 car.
Signed a former Mississauga resident.
Fine thanks from Vienna we still have 28 lines of the over a hundred left that we used to have in 1912. We are still building a new one every 2 years. I am very glad the USTRP plan of the 1962 never worked out.
So cool to see the inside of the cab. I miss being able to look out the end windows on the trains and cars. Also, for whatever reason, it's pronounced "Queen's Key" not "Queen's Kway."
This will be good for my book that takes place in Toronto, it currently has a sequel not by popular demand unfortunately, I just want to expand my characters in that city haha
Dong worry about popular demand - write the novels you want, and at least one person will be happy! Also, proud that my tendency to lurk on random UA-cam videos for novel research has come full circle. Feel free to email me any manuscripts you have involving transit :)
As a Torontonian who now lives in DC but still gets up to Toronto fairly often...gah, you seriously made me feel all rosy for Toronto. It's doing a lot in building new transit projects, probably among the most of any North American city right now. Even near my relatives in the suburbs are getting some new light rail lines. And the city needs it with the incredible amount of traffic going on. It'll be interesting to see where the city will be in a few years.
The city absolutely needs more density though, the unaffordability is something else.
Also, loved the snack ratings! I definitely need some more ketchup chips.
You should take the maple leaf again! They resumed service from New York to Toronto like 2 weeks ago
Awesome! I live in Toronto and would love to work for the TTC just so I can operate streetcars and subway trains! It's a career change I am willing to make LOL Your friend is lucky to enjoy what he does for work. Your video captures the true historical beauty of Toronto.
The San Francisco F-Line also has restored PCC cars running on the surface. Not only does the F train connect Fisherman's Wharf with downtown and Castro Street, but it doesn't cost extra to ride, unlike the cable cars.
It's sad when even Canada has better looking light. rail cars than the United States.😔
What is “even Canada” supposed to mean???? 😠
not at all actually, except maybe TTC current streetcars. The rest better in US. Even GO transit trains are better looking in Seattle with better livery.@@bobbbxxx
'Even Canada' Pretentious American Snob.
Streetcars...the most expensive, least efficient, most disruptive, least flexible, and noisiest mode of public transportation ever invented.
don't know where you've seen whatever brand of streetcars, but these streetcars are not at all noisy, and for what they are designed to do, do you have evidence that they're inefficient? They're significantly larger than buses (scale), cleaner (smell nice or not at all), and are so so much nicer to ride than buses (smooth).
If there's anything suggesting they're less efficient, I don't see it
The "perfect" one-size-fits-all mode of public transit does not exist, it always depends on the circumstances.
Depending on passenger volume streetcars can be cheaper to operate and more efficient than busses, and at the same time much more flexible and _much_ cheaper than subways (about 1/10 of the construction and operating cost). They perfectly cover the niche between busses and subways from about 1,000-10,000 passengers/hour (with some overlap on both ends, of course). And they can also easily be combined with lightrail/regional rail, where streetcars just continue running to the outskirts of a city and even to neighboring towns (e.g. the tram/lightrail network in the Ruhr area in Germany, which seamlessly connects about a dozen of cities).
Also, they are so "disruptive" that in many cities worldwide they run through pedestrian zones with zero issues. And built to modern standards (mass-spring system) they are actually significantly _less_ noisy than diesel busses.
Sounds like an annoyed driver lol
They actually hold as many people as 4 buses and they are much quiter.
Don’t drive in our city and you won’t have a problem.
Haha. Your city?…fu pal, I’ve been here longer than you. Street cars are and always have been a complete joke. Consider the cost of infrastructure and maintenance alone, never mind the inflexibility and noise. Try Sleeping in a building with an open window near an intersection on Dundas or Gerrard, or any number of streets with streetcars.
Take the masks off, dude.
😷
Masks were mandatory on Canadian public transit in summer of 2022 under Ontario provincial public health regulations.